Monday’s are devoted to female related topics to help females begin or continue to train.
[poll id=”38″]
There were several ladies at the workshop this weekend and they had a large range of experience in lifting. This means that they have different needs when it comes to coaching. Coaching is the ability to communicate with a trainee in order to get them to succeed. I purposely leave the definition a bit vague because I don’t think coaching is only limited to merely achieving desired mechanics.
The interpersonal relationship with the trainee is important; how they are treated and how they interact with the coach will have an effect on their success. In my case, I shift roles depending on my audience. I alter my diction, tone, and choice of words based on the synthesis of information I have received from the person. Sometimes this information is a result of them answering my questions, but it’s also dependent how I passively read their body language and personality. I get a feel for their understanding of the material, their education level, and quickly learn how optimally they receive and understand information. All of this, of course, isn’t perfect all of the time, but it’s what is going through my head. CONTINUE READING Continue reading →
I wanted to have a formal thank you to Jeremy, Phuong, and Courtney of CrossFit Anandale for, in no particular order, helping to set up and host the workshop, showing me around D.C., entertaining me with food, drink, and good company, and allowing everyone (including the attendees) to have a great time. They are now some of my favorite people, worthy of drinking with at the mead halls in Tamriel.
Thanks to the attendees for being a good crew and asking great questions. It was a pleasure and I hope you all have fun.
Thanks to Rudy and Laura from Outlaw CrossFit for letting me train at their gym. We also had a compelling interview that can be seen HERE on Rudy’s blog. It also includes me doing a weak-ass clean and jerk, the heaviest since “the Movember incident”. Also, check out Rudy’s programming; he makes some strong mother truckers over there.
by Australian coach Peter Upham
(The Strength Coach)
“All rise.
Open your hymn books to page 69 and we shall all sing ‘Pump Iron’.
“Please be seated.
“A few announcements before today’s sermon; we’re praying today for a few of the missionaries that we sponsor, you all remember Ross and Nicole Livingston,……. well as some of you know, they’re in Uganda and they’ve started up the Ugandan Powerlifting Federation and that is an AFPF affiliate. They’re doing really well and having their first raw comp this weekend so we pray that that goes well. They’re a Barbell based gym and they’re doing their comps the right way, Raw is belt and knee wraps only; No elbows sleeves! As it is written in the Technical Manual.
“We’re also praying for Daniel Secombe today, as he embarks next week on an outreach program in the local strongman community. Daniel is hoping to talk to different strongman athletes about the Holy Barbell and will be inviting them along to a special service we are having next week where they can come and talk about the Barbell, ask some questions, and just get to know Strength the same way that we all do, so Outreach Week is going to be a great opportunity for this gym to see some new faces come along in the future.
Check out this really cool article called “Instinctive sleeping and resting postures: an anthropological and zoological approach to treatment of low back and joint pain”. Be sure to read the actual article in addition to looking at the awkward pictures. It’s fascinating.
After yesterday’s post highlighting the benefits of a quality diet, and today’s post focused on how resting postures can improve or prevent joint problems, some readers are thinking, “What the hell? Is he gonna live in a cave next?” Well, if I had a choice, I’d live in this quaint cabin. Here’s the deal: I’m obsessed with efficiency. When I was in school, I wanted to learn about the human body so I could improve it. When I started coaching, I wanted to learn how to best move the body with respect to mechanics and anatomy. When I started learning about training, I wanted to know how to optimally train the body. I constantly aim to have optimal technique in any athletic movement whether it’s lifting, shooting a gun, swimming, running, or agilely moving when playing pick-up volleyball. When I am cleaning up around the house, I think of the most efficient method to do each chore so that I don’t waste movement or time walking back and forth. So when there is clearly a dietary method that can improve the efficiency of the human body AND it can be tweaked to use for lifters, then I’m going to use it. It results in recovering more efficiently, but it also results in increasing the potential for long-term health. Like Rob Lowe, I want to live until I’m 150.
So when I see a physiotherapist who has spent many years around tribal and zoological populations, and he observes constants in how they rest, I consider that information relevant. I don’t take it for granted when the physiotherapist says that tribal populations simply don’t have many musculoskeletal problems. I deem that highly relevant. In the same way that a series of adaptations resulted in the evolution of various species, they have adapted to using particular methods of rest that prevent getting gunked up hips, knees, backs, and shoulders. I’m an anatomy and physiology nerd because it helps you and me get better.
Think about it: were our “ancestors” sitting hunched over in chairs on a regular basis? Even if we disregard the “this is how we evolved argument” (which is entirely valid and relevant), we can still observe the lack of joint issues in “tribal populations”. For example, what we call the “paleo squat” is observed by Tetley in this article and “can be very helpful in treating backs”, particularly in opening up the sacro-iliac joint and lumbar region.
'Paleo squat' picture from the article
Observe these positions and share your thoughts in the comments.
